When your spouse gets injured, you suffer, too

On behalf of The Copeland Law Firm on Wednesday, August 15, 2018.

It's never easy to care for an injured spouse. Not only will the healthy one feel sadness and empathy for the injured spouse's suffering, but the healthy spouse will also be tasked with caregiving activities while tending to every aspect of family affairs. Not only that, but due to the injured spouse's situation, he or she won't be able to continue working and contributing to the family income.

When considering the above, it's easy to understand how the injuries of one spouse can cause the healthy spouse to suffer as well. It's for this reason that the spouses of accident victims may choose to file a loss of consortium claim against the party that is responsible for the injured spouse's condition.

What is a loss of consortium claim?

When spouses of accident victims file a loss of consortium claim, they generally submit the claim as an addendum to their husband's or wife's personal injury lawsuit. The healthy spouse will include his or her name as an additional plaintiff in the lawsuit while adding additional arguments and information to support financial compensation for loss of consortium damages.

If successfully navigated, the loss of consortium claim will include damages for the following:

Lost household services: An injured spouse may have performed a variety of household tasks, such as cleaning, grocery shopping, home maintenance, washing dishes, laundry, tidying up, decorating and so much more. These services have an easily calculable financial value that spouses might pursue in a damage claim.

Lost companionship and lost intimate relationship: Spouses benefit from companionship, affection and intimate contact. When one spouse suffers a serious injury, this companionship and intimacy will come to a halt. Although this category of damages is intangible in terms of calculating a financial value, courts may choose to award financial compensation to the uninjured spouse for these losses.

Lost childcare services: Spouses may share their childcare duties, or one spouse may perform most of them. Regardless of how you've organized childcare duties with your spouse, losing your fellow parent can represent a serious burden in terms of needing to care for the children, bathe them, feed them, drive them to school and perform other parenting activities.

Other spousal damages: Depending on the unique way that you and your spouse have organized your marriage and relationship, you may have other damages related to your loss of consortium claim. Perhaps, for example, your spouse handled the financial affairs of your household and now you need to pay for an accountant to take care of these duties.

Learn more about loss of consortium claims

Every loss of consortium claim is different and some spouses may have a better chance of success in pursuing such a claim than others. Makes sure you fully understand how Missouri personal injury law applies to your spouse's lawsuit to evaluate the most appropriate way to present your loss of consortium in his or her case.

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